Description The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi ethnic group in Southwest China.
Jjivot Zopqu is a local tradition-bearer in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan..
Aku Wuwu is a well-known poet and professor and associate dean of the College of Yi Studies, Southwest Nationalities University, Chengdu.
He is the author of Plum and Bamboo: China\'s Suzhou Chantefable Tradition and translator of Butterfly Mother: Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou, China.
About the Author Mark Bender is professor of East Asian languages and literatures at Ohio State University.
A comprehensive introduction to the translation describes the land and people, summarizes the work\'s themes, and discusses the significance of The Book of Origins for the understanding of folk epics, ethnoecology, and ethnic relations.
Poetic in form, the narrative provides insights into how a clan- and caste-based society organizes itself, dictates ethics, relates to other ethnic groups, and adapts to a harsh environment.
Transmitted in oral and written forms for centuries among the Nuosu, The Book of Origins is performed by bimo priests and other tradition-bearers.
This translation is a rare example in English of Indigenous ethnic literature from China.
Their Creation Epic plots the origins of the cosmos, the sky and earth, and the living beings of land and water.
Description The Nuosu people, who were once overlords of vast tracts of farmland and forest in the uplands of southern Sichuan and neighboring provinces, are the largest division of the Yi ethnic group in Southwest China
